TUTBURY CASTLE

  

Massive Ghost Hunt
 

18 October 2003

  
       
 

Derwent Paranormal were part of a ‘team’ of over 3000 people attending a massive ghost hunt at Tutbury Castle, smashing the record for the worlds biggest ghost hunt set in April at the same location. But, with so many people in attendance at such an event would it be possible that any paranormal activity would be experienced by anyone?

Our team of four arrived on site at 6:00 pm and were treated to guided tour of the grounds with various costumed actors placed at several locations around the castle. Once the tour was completed we decided to join what was at the time a 45-minute queue to visit the Great Hall and the Kings Bedroom. 

  
   
  On reaching the head of the queue both Mark and Karl both noted that their digital cameras were showing very little remaining charge and Mark’s torch would not work even when the batteries were exchanged.

For the four of us, our time in the King’s Bedroom was uneventful with the exception of the odd orb caught on camera. We did however witness one young lady whose fingers were twitching uncontrollably, an event, which as yet we have been unable to recreate under normal circumstances.

  
       
 

We left the Great Hall complex and headed over to the South Tower Undercroft. As this area is unlit and accessed by about eight steep steps Mark instinctively turned on his torch and to all our amazement it worked. Both digital cameras were also showing as charged as well. We can think of no reasonable explanation for these occurrences.

Once in the Undercroft it was easy to explain away any orbs that would be caught that night on digital camera, as huge amounts of airborne dust were clearly visibly in the torchlight. However, orbs, by definition, are usually round in shape and on later examination we were surprised by two of the photographs, taken on two separate cameras, which clearly shows diamond shaped ‘orbs’.

 
         
 

Eleanor decided to try a bit of pendulum dowsing and soon attracted an audience with people wishing to try it for themselves. Fortunately, we had foreseen this eventuality and had taken a couple of spare pendulums with us.  For us, it was very interesting watching complete novices dowsing, especially when a lot of answers gained by various dowsers at differing times proved to be identical.

After about three quarters of an hour we noted that the answers were less forthcoming and several of the dowsers ended up with the pendulums shaking violently. We decided that it was perhaps time to move to a new location and try again (Just in case we were upsetting a spirit in our current location?). On moving to the other undercroft the novices were once again able to dowse without any problems and once again getting consistent answers.

It was about a further half an hour before the crowds dispersed and we were able to carry out a short tour of the grounds. By this time the queue to visit the Great Hall and King’s Bedroom was so long that there was approximately a three-hour wait, but all seemed to be in good spirits (so to speak).

At about 11:00 pm Eleanor returned to the undercroft to try some more pendulum dowsing whilst the rest of us took the opportunity to ascend the South Tower. On our way up I pointed out some of the graffiti carved into the walls that Eleanor and I had noted on a day trip to Tubury, some of which dates back to the late 1700’s when the castle was no more than a ruin. Although many of the perpetrators of this graffiti are now long gone, like the ghosts who haunt the castle, they will always remind us of their existence.

Note the strange orange glow on this gentleman's jacket

 

Conclusion

  Although we used little more equipment on this ‘investigation’ than digital cameras and dowsing pendulums, we were amazed with our evening’s experience. Especially with the consistent results of the novice dowsers and some of the photographic evidence we obtained.

What is this strange ghostly image captured in an old corridor?